


hear the bells

by edogawas



Category: Fire Emblem Heroes
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, One Shot Collection, pretty much grima and kiran learn more about eachother, side pairings in authors note
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2019-03-31 02:10:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13965087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edogawas/pseuds/edogawas
Summary: Though Grima certainly didn't expect to get into a relationship, nor does he have any idea how it works, he'll still work his way around it. Luckily, Kiran's willing to stay by his side and guide him.





	hear the bells

**Author's Note:**

> there's some past chrobin in here, the other side pairings would be chrom/sumia and robin/henry though it doesn't show up here, probably in a later chapter
> 
> i just didn't tag it since it isn't the main focus for the story
> 
> SHOUT OUT TO MY BOYFRIEND FOR EDITING THIS AND HELPING WITH THE LAST PART ESPECIALLY AOWDEJGOWSAJGEOWAGG

Grima was a ‘divine dragon,’ and though he was far from divine, he knew that his immense power led to his classification into that category. After all, this species he was part of had abnormal characteristics; they didn't need sleep or rest, nor did they need constant alimentation – months could be easily withstood without any food. In other words, they were practically invincible.

That is, unless they possess a human host.

While gaining control over a mortal body had given Grima more mobility, its limitations were still striking Grima pretty hard.

In his full, draconic form, he could easily stave off sleep in case of night attacks. What kind of fool would dare attempt to fight the Fell Dragon, he didn’t know, but it didn’t hurt to be careful.

Kiran was Askr’s tactician. He was also the one responsible for summoning him and the other heroes into this world. While he didn’t have the duty to do so, he often checked in with the members of the Order of the Heroes, keeping note of whether they were getting enough to eat, sleeping well, etc.

All of which Grima wasn’t doing.

Becoming partners with Askr’s tactician meant having to deal with those check ups tenfold. Just like any tactician, Kiran had a keen eye to details, much to Grima's dismay.

There was this one accidental incident in which Grima had been wandering around the halls late at night to occupy himself. Kiran was usually the first person awake, and Grima, carelessly having forgotten to check the time, he ended up getting caught by Kiran at the crack of dawn.

Ever since then, Kiran insisted on checking up on him with particular attention.

There was a tap on Grima’s shoulder, then a paper right in front of his face. On it was a demanding set of words that was scribbled with an all too familiar handwriting: ‘You better sleep early today.’

Grima rolled his eyes, placing the note back into Kiran’s hands.

“I’ll be fine, Summoner. Like I said before, I don’t need sleep.”

Night approached, and once again, Grima pressed himself against cold sheets. Sleep didn't come until it was too late to get a proper amount.

That night, he didn't have any dreams during the minimal rest he got.

 

.  
..  
…

 

There was one day where Grima decided to head inside the mess hall at night, insomnia eating away at his body. He spotted Kiran all alone, papers scattered about with books by his side. Oh, how the tables have turned. In a taunting voice, Grima spoke up. "For one to prioritize everyone's health, this certainly isn't healthy for you."

Kiran jolted, causing some papers to fall off from sudden movement. He scrambled to collect them all and Grima found himself picking up some of the papers.

He handed them over to Kiran, only now getting a closer look at him. Due to the scramble, his hood was pulled back a little, revealing a mess of brown hair. His eyes held heavy bags and his smile was weary.

Seeing such visage made Grima realize how tired Kiran truly was.

Being a tactician was tiring work. It also put high pressure onto people, though Kiran never let that stress show through and always remain cheerful through the whole day. Grima remembered how this morning, Kiran had gone around on his own feet to inform everyone that food was ready in place of the broken food bell. How he went the extra mile to train every single hero to stand their ground in battle, all without complaint, Grima had no idea (“He would be a really good retainer if he’d join me," he sometimes thought to himself).

The disheveled Kiran nodded at him, reaching in to take back the papers... But his hands didn't meet any sheets, as Grima had pulled them back. Kiran landed on Grima's chest in a desperate attempt to grasp at them, though Grima managed to catch him with one arm.

Too tired to care, Kiran continued jumping for the papers, but that only made Grima pull them further away. "Take a break for once, Summoner. It'd do no good for anyone if you fell asleep in battle."

Kiran only scowled in reply and remained persistent.

In the end, Grima had to confine the squirming Kiran with his arm, unintentionally trapping him in an embrace (though it wasn't a repulsive one).

"I mean it, Kiran. Get some rest. The sun is going to rise soon."

For a few minutes, Kiran went still, then he proceeded to push himself off of Grima. He then grabbed a nearby scrap of paper and jotted something down.

'The sun's already rising, might as well stay up.'

At that reply, Grima simply sneered. "It's better to get some sleep then none. Isn’t that what you always say?"

'You say, as you never sleep despite me telling you to.' Kiran crossed his arms, while Grima sighed and shook his head.

"Unlike you, Summoner, I don't require sleep. You are human, you need it." The first part was a lie.

Kiran looked down the the floor, seeming to consider his words. It took him a few minutes, but he eventually started to write.

'What about the plan for next battle?'

Grima scoffed. "If you're so worried about that, I'll do it myself it if I have to." He marched towards the area where Kiran had previously been sitting and took up the quill as he ignored Kiran's protests.

After quarreling for a little longer, Kiran finally calmed down, 'Are you sure you'll be able to handle it?'

"Please, Summoner, I used to be a tactician. And I still am but..." He cuts himself off before he spills out anything unnecessary. Kiran didn't have to know more about him then he needed. They were lovers now, yes, but every individual had things they confined from everyone else but their own self.. Even those who were closest to them.

Grima ended up waving his hand to assert that the conversation was over (And hopefully to deter Kiran’s attention away from abrupt end of his sentence).

It had been a while since Grima did any planning himself. At least, in Askr. The last time he had to actually formulate a plan was in his timeline. Like annoying pests, the children of the shepherds didn’t give up on searching for the gems (“Imagine seeing Lucina appear before the summoning gates, wouldn’t that be a laugh,” Grima snorted. Suddenly he was thankful no one from his timeline was here).

His goal that battle had been to crush every bit of hope they had, otherwise they’d get up again and become a major annoyance. When he snapped out from dwelling about the past, he realized he had been projecting this mentality onto Kiran’s battle strategy.

…His tactics were brutal, but it wasn't as if he was ever going to do this again. He decided to let himself have a little fun for once. He’ll deal with any possible scolding from Kiran later.

Once he finished laying out the plan, he took a deep breath and stretched his arms. When he let out his breath and let his body relax, Grima took notice to an out of place paper on the table.

At some point Kiran must have slipped a memo on the map. Somehow he hadn't noticed until he was nearly done with preparations. Grima finally flipped open the memo, which read: 'I understand. I'm trusting you, but sleep when your done! Even though you ‘don’t’ need sleep, take some anyway. It’ll certainly make you less grumpy.'

"You're still on about tha-" He looked up and paused, remembering that Kiran would be fast asleep by now.

"... Your concern has been considered." He sighed and got up. While he didn't plan on resting anytime soon, it was better to head over to his dorm then to linger here.

In the morning, when they marched to the new area and engaged in battle with the enemy forces, grasping victory had been a cakewalk.

 

.  
..  
…

 

The dinner bell rang, and Grima couldn’t have been any more eager to get it over with.

He didn’t mind the free food. Though he much preferred snacking on gems, the food at Askr still sufficed. However, the accusing whispers that he heard every time he passed by irked his nerves.

It didn’t bother him when they were just talking about himself. He’d heard the usual curses a billion times: the scum of the earth, the bringer of doom, the embodiment of despair... It was nothing new.

What he didn't like was when those gossipers brought up Kiran. They questioned Kiran's sanity, or if he had hidden intentions that might possibly ruin them all. Of course, the latter was less common, but knowing how hard Kiran worked for every single one of their well-being and safety, it frustrated Grima to see them still question the tactician's motives.

It proved to Grima once again that humans take things for granted, that they’re selfish creatures who only showed kindness if it satisfied their own selves.

“You know, you chose this. I’m not some sensitive worm, I won’t get hurt if you chose someone else as your partner,” he brings up to Kiran when the tactician takes a seat next to him. Kiran usually remained in the company of the Askran nobles or he was busy befriending someone new, but sometimes he finds a day to eat his meal next to Grima..

But Kiran shook his head, tightly grabbing Grima’s hand and intertwining their fingers. He’s about to protest, claim that he isn’t upset or whatever Kiran’s imagining. Kiran didn’t have to write what he was thinking. Grima could see the message he intended to deliver all over his eyes.

‘I’m staying.’

“...I'm going to remind you once again. You chose this, and any consequence that comes along with all falls on you.”

‘I know, I know.”

When Kiran laughed, Grima expected to hear a deep chuckle and a dorky joke in exchange. But silence is the only thing that his ears are met with, and the wide smile that he spots reminds Grima of a silent bell. In a way, this was more charming than the laugh he envisioned.

_Do you deserve this?_

Grima sneers at the tiny voice in his head, wishing to choke it into silence. But it never shut up, always jabbering in his head. It was a different kind of bell – one that wouldn't stop ringing in his ear.

Without another word, hee takes his leave, and Kiran doesn't question him.

Grima’s dorm is cold and lonely. He hates to admit it, but he misses the warmth that Kiran gave to a room.

For once, he falls into a deep slumber, though it's yet another dreamless one.

 

.  
..  
…

 

After a couple of days, Grima was getting… decent sleep. Though he still tends to wake up in the middle of the night, he at least gets a sufficient amount of rest. What he can’t deal with are the dreams that haunt him every night. He knows for a fact that they aren’t his own, that they belong to the person who still lived inside him, who still struggled to retrieve control of this body. The Exalt was lucky he had yet to be summoned. At the moment, he was willing to attempt to break Kiran’s contract and end Naga’s bloodline right then and there.

His host dreamt of the Exalt that once lovingly held his face and called him his other half, reminisced their dance that they shared around the empty halls of the castle when no one seemed to be watching, and the replayed the scene of the Exalt driving his blade into Grima and breaking his host free.

It makes Grima sick to his stomach. It was excruciating.

The dreams caused something to stir in him, and soon, he started hearing the host lament about the past. Grima wants to shut him up, tell him to accept his fate, but he instead silently waits for it to subside.

A knock on his door was his saving grace. Grima stood up, cautiously walking towards the door and opening it slowly.

Kiran stumbled inside his room and would have fallen face first onto the floor, had Grima not caught him… again. Grima doesn't immediately deny his entrance, and instead guides Kiran to his bed and lays him down. He’s about to question ‘What in the gods are you doing?’ but stops when he sees that his partner had already passed out on his bed.

Kiran is asleep and cannot hear him, but Grima still mutters a half-hearted complaint about how he could’ve just walked to his own room instead. After staring at the tactician's sleeping face for a bit longer, Grima followed Kiran and climbed into bed. With the other's company, the silence was no longer deafening and quickly became pleasant peace to Grima.

Grima pulls Kiran into his embrace and wraps his arm around him tightly, he can’t tell if his host's will or his own, but he doesn’t bother to pull away. Kiran’s hair tickles his nose as Grima presses his face behind, not minding the bristle at all.

Normally, he’d scorn feelings like this. His whole life, he thought of human bonds as meaningless and pointless. But now that he was here, lying next to his partner – perhaps the only person who had ever treated him like an equal, a sentient being… He hated to admit it, but it was nice to be treated like something other than a mindless, ravenous monster.

...Perhaps his hatred towards human bonds had originated from his natural opposition towards his host, who had valued them so much.

He didn’t have a dream that night. He wondered whether his host had also realized his change in heart (it was minimal, but undeniably significant).

He realizes that he isn’t good, he doesn’t deserve any tranquility, and his host wouldn’t hesitate to remind him again and again. Forgiveness wasn’t something he wished for, nor something he expected. But maybe the two had reached some form of understanding, even if it were a weak one. Either way, it was just enough for the tormenting nightmares to stop their nightly visits.

For tonight though, he treasures Kiran’s presence and this temporary peace that his host allowed him, pretending that it was just the two of them in this world.

 

**Author's Note:**

> i'm thinking of writing f!robin/sumia or fjorm/shareena next but i... need a prompt so, GOEWSJGAWSGWSEOG IT'LL TAKE ME A WHILE 
> 
> i wanted to write something for grima/kiran since it's a ship i adore. i tried writing how they fall in love but i ended up trashing the beginning a lot, so i was like "hey why not just make the relationship pre established it'll make it easier for everyone" and here we are.
> 
> also this was like, relevant for 0.1 seconds but i have this headcanon that grima likes to eat gems. dont'fucking @ me on this, GOESJWDGOAEJDG
> 
> anyway, i hoped you enjoyed reading!! i really liked writing this, expect more grima/kiran in the futureOTGEWSOJGAWEG


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